© Copyright 2025 Chicago Rabbinical Council. All rights reserved.
Website By Azurite Marketing Group
Back to top
By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator
Q. Are there any kashrus issues with strawberries, raspberries, and other berries?
A. The most significant kashrus issue with berries is that they are typically infested with small insects. Removing those insects typically requires some sort of vigorous washing [with a variety of methods suggested by different certifying agencies], and that is reasonable for strawberries, which are relatively firm fruits. In contrast, blackberries and raspberries are too delicate to be scrubbed or washed well, and, therefore, most hashgachos will not allow their use, since there is no realistic way to ensure they are insect-free.
The above applies to someone who wants to eat a fresh or frozen berry. However, the halacha is more lenient regarding the use of pureed berries, such as would be found in a smoothie or jam. Namely, most are of the opinion that if the infestation level of a particular type of food is not too great (a.k.a., miut hamatzui, a meaningful minority of time), one may eat it after [a cursory cleaning and] the food is pureed, since there is a reasonable chance that that process crushes the bugs to the point that they can be batel. If, however, the food/produce is regularly infested (a.k.a., muchzak b’tolaim, infested more than 50% of the time), then pureeing is insufficient, and one must remove all insects before eating it. Thus, to know whether one may include (unchecked) strawberries in a smoothie, or certify a raspberry jam, a determination must be made whether the infestation level is “miut hamatzui” or “muchzak b’tolaim”.
The general rule is that when an infested food is dried out with heat, that destroys the insects as well, and many assume that the same applies when foods are “freeze-dried”. This is relevant to freeze-dried strawberries, which are sometimes eaten as-is or as inclusions in an ice cream or breakfast cereal. In this context, it is worth noting that the advanced equipment used for “freeze-drying” is also used (with heat) to process meat, fish, dairy products, and other kosher-sensitive foods, and, therefore, any food which is freeze-dried requires kosher certification.
Berries grow on bushes and “canes”, and there is much halachic discussion about whether those qualify as trees. On the one hand, they meet the Gemara’s criterion of lasting through the winter, but, on the other hand, they are different from regular trees in that they (some) are particularly short, grow fruit from the trunk/stem, or produce fruit in the first year or just for one year. It is generally agreed that standard blueberries (a.k.a., highbush blueberries) [not to be confused with the “black berries” (i.e., bilberries)] discussed in Mishnah Berurah 203:3) grow on a “tree”; therefore, the proper bracha on them is borei pri ha’eitz, and they are subject to the halachos of arlah. Similarly, most agree that the bracha on strawberries is ha’adamah. There is much less consensus regarding the status of raspberries and blackberries since the canes they grow on are more unique.
This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, May 2, 2025.